Globally, there are more than 100 million working horses, donkeys and mules, who make a vital contribution towards the livelihoods of around 600 million people. The International Coalition for Working Equids (ICWE) consists of four leading NGOs in equid welfare: Brooke, SPANA (the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad), The Donkey Sanctuary, and World Horse Welfare. ICWE was founded to work with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and its member states to support the implementation of the working equid standards. As well as this, ICWE members work together to provide technical guidance and assistance during disease outbreaks and advocate for better visibility for working equids.
For the first time, this year, all four members of ICWE will be exhibiting at The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) Congress in Birmingham from 14-16 September, and will be working with the BEVA Trust to promote awareness of working equids and responsible travel when visiting or volunteering overseas.
Each organisation will have a stand in the exhibition hall, where congress attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about ICWE and the vital work of animal health professionals around the world. Visitors to the stands of all four organisations will be entered into a prize draw to win a hand-drawn animal portrait of their choice, by Izzy Wild of World Horse Welfare.
Brooke’s Head of the International Centre of Excellence for Animal Health, Dr Laura Skippen, will represent ICWE at 8.30am on Thursday 14 September, where she will discuss human behaviour change for working equid health and welfare during the ‘What Every Vet Needs to know About Their Clients’ session on the main programme.
There will be two abstract presentations from SPANA in the clinical research sessions. On Friday 15 September at 3.40pm in hall 8B Dr Youness Elouasbi from SPANA’s Morocco team will present ‘Standing flank laparotomy for small colon obstruction in working donkeys in Morocco’, and on Saturday 16 September at 1.57pm in hall 8B, Dr Anna Bowker will present ‘A retrospective study of 571 cases of Tetanus in working equids in Morocco’ on behalf of Dr Boubker El Mouhaine.
The Donkey Sanctuary is represented by Lead Veterinary Surgeon Rebekah Sullivan who will be presenting on a number of topics including ‘Pain Scoring in Donkeys’ at 9.30am, Hall 9 on Friday 15 September, alongside Head of Research, Dr Fiona Cooke, who will present ‘How are Donkeys Different?’ at 11.50am in Executive Room 1. To find out more information about the talks and ICWE’s work Dr Joe Collins and members from The Donkey Sanctuary’s Veterinary team will be at stand D32.
Izzy Wild from World Horse Welfare’s International Team with be representing ICWE at 1.40pm on Thursday 14 September, and will be presenting case studies on working equid welfare during the workshop “Good Health or Good Welfare? Why Can’t We Agree What Good Welfare Means?” in Hall 10.
ICWE organisations will also be on hand to discuss the new Working Equid Standards Library of Information (WESLI). This is an online library of resources hosted on the ICWE website to provide guidance on the WOAH Chapter standards on the Welfare of Working Equids, including provision of water, diseases and injuries, and end-of-life concerns for working equids.
To find out more about ICWE, visit the website.
